Or one who won’t be going on maternity leave?
I’m sure in the grown up business world of suits and healthcare packages, investing in women of childbearing age is a costly gamble. Probably one that rarely pays off and no doubt there are reams of data to prove this. However here at Bunny HQ I’m getting rather tired of apologising about a fact of life. I’m tired of feeling guilty for wanting what every man can take for granted with no guilt or apology necessary. Their job AND a family life.
I am not so biased or naive not to see the difficulties, especially to small businesses when a team member leaves to start a family. Yet penalizing woman for having babies and then in the same breathe returning home to a heroes welcome from their own doting offspring, shows that one half of us can have their cake and eat it. The other half will have to jump through hoops if they wish to maintain the career they’ve worked all their adult life to achieve.
I’m chuntering away on my soapbox because the beings who devote their lives to all things Rufus recently wrote a “Make working life easier” wish list. At the very top of that list was Get A New Team Member.
We wanted someone who was confident with social media. Rufus Rabbit, having dipped his furry toe into the addictive waters of the virtual Facebook pool quickly realised he could do with another being to tweet, post, pin and natter with the best of them. We wanted someone with office skills to answer email enquiries, take customer orders and if they had a good telephone voice that would be a double bubble Brucie bonus. We wanted a personality that could slot into a small family business and fit with the existing team. Ideally someone positive, funny, intelligent and if we weren’t being too demanding, someone interesting. And finally we wanted someone part time with hours to suit both sides.
And do you know who ticked all those boxes and many more?
A Woman of Childbearing Age!
And what’s more, she already has a small child of knee hanging height, in fact it is her Mummy status that makes her so perfect for the job.
So until the working world manages to balance gender inequality and raise the value of family life, take some comfort in the knowledge that a least one bunny, this bunny, loves a Mummy xxx
